The most important thing when starting a drawing is to see the gesture!

ドローイングを描くときに、はじめにすべきなのは、ジェスチャーを見ることです！

My drawing instructor, Glenn Vilppu often would say, "If you don't have the gesture, you don't have anything."

私のドローイングの師、グレン・ビルプ先生は「ジェスチャーがなければ、何もないのと同じだ」とよく言っています。

Some people fear about what is the first line that should touch the paper. I personally like to start with the torso. In my opinion that is where the center of gravity is. I have seen people start with the foot! In their mind, that is a point to anchor to be clear where the weight is. Glenn Vilppu will often start with the head because he feels, "the body follows the head".

All these approaches are correct. It's simply a matter of what tool is best for you to visualize the gesture. They all have a common consideration of a force being acted upon the body. I say that force is gravity.

I have included some of my own examples of some quick sketches and where I start. It may be too fast to catch but I drew starting with the head, torso and foot in different cases. However, seeing the gesture in my head was the most important part before putting a line down.

I also included some rough gestural drawings from my inspirations: John Buscema, Catherine Jeffery Jones, Charles Dana Gibson and Heinrich Kley. See the power and weight in the gesture ---- gravity pulling on the figure and you might see that was the focus of the artist.

どなたにも気軽にご参加いただけるドローイングの会です。鉛筆と紙をご用意のうえ、会社帰り、学校帰りにお立ち寄りください。この会で行っているのは、ジェスチャードローイングと呼ばれる、動きをとらえる短時間のスケッチです。女性のモデル（着衣）は、ある瞬間で動作を止めます。「ストーリーを語る画」を目指し、詳細は描かずに、短時間でアクションや感情を描きとめます。描いた作品の講評や講義は設けていません。レベルを問わず、描くこと自体を楽しんでください。人物が難しい場合には、下の例のような袋、あるいは単純なカーブだけで描きはじめられます。休憩時間には短いレクチャーも行います。アドバイスが欲しい方はお気軽に声をかけてください。Everyone is welcome! Let’s enjoy figure drawing and learn how to capture the gesture that tells a story. This class will warm you up with quick gesture drawings, then ease you into longer poses.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

"The word is often misinterpreted to suggest cuddly bunnies and soft kittens. To us, it meant anything that a person likes to see, a quality of charm, pleasing design, simplicity, communication and magnetism."「魅力的」という言葉は、可愛らしいウサギや、ふわふわの子猫だけのものではありません。私たちにとっては、愛嬌、気持ちの良いデザイン、シンプルさ、コミュニケーション、引き付ける力といった、目を楽しませるものはすべて「魅力的」です。- Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, The Illusion of Lifeオリー・ジョンストン、フランク・トーマス『The Illusion of Life』（生命を吹き込む魔法）より

Everyone at one time has experienced making a drawing and for some reason, nothing interesting is happening on the page. The drawing is dead or boring despite following all the drawing rules of anatomy or perspective.

Some seem to have a natural ability to make a drawing that immediately attracts people. Why? Yes, some people are just gifted in this way , however, fortunately there are tools that can help us make more appealing designs in our drawings.

1- OBSERVE! Take time to observe your subject. Don't just look, but really observe who or what you are drawing. What is different, contrasting or unique about your subject? Are they skinny? Heroic? What is attractive or unattractive about them? Suggest that in your drawing!

Above: Pencil studies by Milt Kahl for Horace and Jasper from 101 Dalmatians. Both characters have the same face but their body designs are quite different and possibly communicate something about their character. Jasper (the smart one) is long legged and always hunting like a spider. Horace (the dumb one) is short, fat and is quite clumsy.

2- MAKE JUDGMENTS Don't be afraid to make a judgment about what you see in the model. It's not rude. It is your job as a designer to see what is interesting in the model and and exaggerate it! There is a big difference between exaggeration and 'distortion'. Exaggeration is making a truth bigger. Distortion is lying.

Yes, it is difficult to capture so much 'character' when we only have a few minutes (or less!) when drawing people in public....or in a Ki Creative Studio Drawing Workshop. Regardless, this is part of our challenge to observe more and make quicker judgments!

For those of you who are still beginners at capturing the figure, here are a few drawing tips that might be helpful when putting masses and forces down on the paper. Notice I used the words "masses" and "forces" - NOT simply lines.

D. NOW, a offsetting curved lines rhythmically suddenly makes the eye travel in a fluid manner. Good composition and design will always have some form of contrast. Though all forms below D. are asymmetrical, there is an appealing balance in all the forms. There is movement, flow and with the use of overlap, dimension. D. このドローイングは、曲線の位置をずらし、リズムを与えています。こうなると、目は流れるようにラインを追います。良い構図やデザインには常に、コントラストがあります。下の3つのフォームはすべて、非対称です。また、バランスが取れた面白味のあるフォームです。オーバーラップと奥行による、動き、流れがあります。

Applying some of these tools or concepts might help give your drawings a boost. Good luck!!

The female form is the perfect design to show flow, curves and rhythm and complementary forces. This is not to say that the male form doesn't have curves but but they are more obvious to see the female form.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

In the 1980's Don Bluth produced Dragon's Lair, Space Ace and Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp. A series of laserdisc video games using hand-drawn animation. The animation from Bluth, and other animation greats such as Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy is irresistibly appealing, exciting and definitely fun. Fans still dream of a Dragon's Lair (in my case Space Ace) hand-drawn feature film that recaptures the pacing and fun of the originals.

A major part of what gave these projects an amazing sense of scope and a very clear universe were the background paintings. They are are amazing and a must study in terms of color, design, and creative use of perspective.

According to Gary Goldman the background painters who worked on these films were Don Moore, Ron Diaz, Dave Goetz and William Lorencz.

The games are available as downloadable applications for mobile devices now. Totally worth getting if anything for study and analysis.

Below is an interview I found with Ron Diaz. Obviously a tremendous talent and a fun individual with a great odyssey in the animation industry.